KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has described technology-driven reforms leading to a paperless system of governance in the province as central to building a transparent, efficient and citizen-centric government.

He said this while speaking at a ceremony held at the Chief Minister House to launch the e-stamping system in Sindh, a digital initiative aimed at modernising government documentation and eliminating fake stamp papers.

The ceremony was attended, among others, by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah and Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah and President Sindh Bank Anwar Shaikh.

The event marked the signing of a Master Service Level Agreement and Service Order between the Board of Revenue Sindh and the Sindh Information Technology Company (SITC) for the continued rollout and expansion of the e-stamping platform.

Addressing the gathering, the chief minister said the reform was part of a broader strategy to modernise governance in Sindh through digital systems that enhance transparency, efficiency and ease of access for the public.

“In just five months since SITC took over the system, more than 730,000 challans have been processed and Rs12.8 billion has been collected through the e-stamping platform transparently and efficiently,” he said.

The CM said the system was helping eliminate long-standing irregularities in documentation. “The e-stamping system is helping eliminate the mafia involved in fake stamp papers, end the practice of backdated documentation and free citizens from standing in long queues outside government offices,” he said.

He said that the next phase of the initiative would introduce a fully paperless system, enabling citizens to generate stamp documents online directly from their laptops or mobile devices.

“This reform is not simply a technological upgrade; it is about restoring trust between the government and the people of Sindh,” he added.

The chief minister said that digital reforms were also being extended to education and public administration, including the introduction of secure digital verification of student records at public universities to curb fake degrees, digitisation of property tax systems and paperless issuance of domicile and permanent residence certificates (PRC).

“The days when citizens had to run from office to office for basic services are coming to an end,” he said. “Our goal is to bring government services directly to the people wherever they are”, he added.

During the ceremony, Special Assistant to the CM on Information Technology Ali said that the e-stamping system would significantly reduce corruption, streamline government processes and improve citizen convenience.

Earlier, CEO SITC Zainul Abdein Shah explained that the transition to e-stamping was designed to eliminate fake stamp papers, fraudulent backdated stamps and revenue leakages associated with manual transactions.

He added that SITC had already introduced an artificial intelligence-based chatbot with trilingual support in Urdu, Sindhi and English to assist citizens using the system.

The briefing also outlined a roadmap for future digital initiatives, including the development of a Sindh Citizen Super App, which will integrate more than 130 government services into a single digital platform, and the establishment of a provincial government data centre to secure Sindh’s digital infrastructure.

Member (RS&EP) Board of Revenue Safdar Ali Bughio and SITC CEO Abdein signed the Master Service Level Agreement and Service Order.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2026